


The Blood That Changes Me

by ThomE_Gemcity_06



Series: Being Who I Want to Be [2]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Family, Gen, Girl issues, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 11:11:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7530439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThomE_Gemcity_06/pseuds/ThomE_Gemcity_06
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No matter how much Arya grew, there was nothing that would stop Robb and Jon from loving her</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Blood That Changes Me

**Author's Note:**

> Robb - 15  
> Jon - 15  
> Sansa - 13  
> Arya - 12  
> Bran - 9  
> Rickon - 7

Robb came instantly awake. Something wasn't quite right. He sat up and peered around the darkness in his room, and through the moon light streaming in through his cracked curtain, could discern that nothing was immediately out of place. So what had a woken him? He looked at the green, digital alarm clock on his nightstand; 3:33 a.m.

He palmed the lingering sleep from his blue gaze, and slid from his bed in a tee and boxers. He was a heavy sleeper, that meant that when he went to sleep, he usually stayed that way until morning. But he wasn't the type of boy of who slept in on the weekend, he usually got all he needed while he slept uninterrupted and was ready to conquer that coming day. The only times that this had happened, becoming suddenly jolt awake without any discernable reason, he could count on his fingers. They weren’t always necessarily when bad things happened, but just something big.

He came to his bedroom door, and peeked out into the hall. It was empty and dark. He walked across the small distance to Jon's room across from his, and entered without knocking. They never knocked; he, Jon and Arya always just barged into each others room without a moments notice. Robb flicked the light switch on and blinked into the sudden brightness. He tensed when he found his brother's bed slept in, but empty.

"Jon?" He called, wary. He told himself not to get ahead of himself, but where the hell was he? He heard the toilet go in his bathroom, and when Jon stepped out, he blew out a breath of relief.

A flash of surprise crossed the other boy's face as he saw his brother. "Robb? What are you doing?"

"I woke up," Robb said simply.

"Ah." Jon ran a hand through his mussed, curly locks. "Did you check the others?" He asked. Robb shook his head. "Alright, let's see what's up."

They shut off the light and worked their way through the wings; checking on each sibling and parent. Robb checked on Rickon, and Jon on Bran; both little brothers were sound asleep. They didn't dare actually go _into_ their parents' bedroom, but they could hear their father's snoring just fine. Sansa was safe as well, content to drool down her chin (the brothers couldn't help but share a smirk at the sight if their usually snobby sister slobbering).

The two boys stopped outside of Arya's closed door, and shared a worried look; it was always their little sister that worried them most. It wasn't that the two were closest to her than their other siblings. It was simply the fact of her personality. She may have been a girl and she may be small, but she was bull-headed, fiery, brave, cunning, smart, adventurous and at times violent—all this combined in that small body made her unpredictable, and left them on their toes. Her bedroom light was on, and faintly streaming through the bottom of her door.

As usual per the three, the two didn't knock and charged in. Who knew what was happening in there at this time of night? They jolted to a stop as their eyes zoomed in on the blood—the blood that covered Arya's sheet.

"Arya!" Jon screamed.

Blood, but no little sister.

"Shut up!" Arya shouted in return, charging from her bathroom. She looked pale and a little shaken, their was a slight flare of pain in her narrowed grey eyes. She quickly shut her door behind them. "Stop yelling."

"Arya, what happened?" Robb demanded, grasping her shoulders and trying to inspect her for any cuts that could cause so much blood. "Are you hurt?"

Ayra shrugged him off. "I'm fine." She growled.

"Arya, where'd all this blood come from?" Jon asked, gesturing to the blood that saturated her sheets. But the more that he calmed down, the more he noticed that there wasn't as much blood at he had first thought.

"Go away." She told them, refusing to answer his question; she found it too embarrassing. She couldn't deal with them right now, they were boys, and that wasn't what she needed right now. She turned her back to them and started pulling her sheets loose from the corner of her mattress.

"Why won't you tell us?" Jon asked softly, feeling hurt. They told each other everything.

Arya couldn't help but feel the twinge of guilt at his hurt tone, but she wasn't going to let that trip her. Her insides felt like they were twisted around inside her, she never felt a pain like this before, not even when she was ten, and broke her arm, climbing a tree in the yard that her mother forbade her from doing—she rebelled and did it anyways, and fell, breaking her arm in the process. This twisted feeling made her not want to move, to just lay down and curl up in a ball under the blankets, and stay there until it went away. But as much as she wanted to, she needed to clean up.

She knew exactly what this was. She had gotten her period. She knew what it was from school. And she remembered when it had happened to Sansa a couple of months ago. Robb, Jon, and Bran had been out riding with father, and mother had made her stay at the house so that she could spend some girl time with her two daughters. Arya was so angry; staying at the house was so boring! And Sansa said she wasn't feeling too well, so she was less fun than usual. But Arya had insisted that getting into the pool would help her feel better, and against the other girl's better judgment, she listened to her little sister. And it had actually seemed to help, the cramps in her stomach lessened. But then Arya had seen it, the blood listlessly flowing out in the water around her. Arya had screamed in fear and shock, and Sansa's had been extra blood-curdling. Catelyn instantly ran out to see what was wrong. Seeing their mother not screaming her own head off at the blood, they calmed at her motherly expression. And she explained what had happened to Sansa and why, and showed her how to use the product that she'd now have to wear every month for at least a week, and Arya watched.

That been the only reason why, when she woke up tonight with her guts in a twist and blood covering her legs and sheets, she didn't scream. But that didn't mean she hadn't been any less scared as she climbed from her bed, stripped from her soiled shorts and underwear, cleaned the blood from her legs, and put on a fresh pair of bottoms, but not before she stole into her sister's bathroom while she drooled and stole some of the products that she'd need.

She'd just finished putting on a clean pair of shorts when she heard her idiots brothers burst into her room. She didn't need _them_ , she needed her mother, even Sansa would have been better than these two knuckle-heads who wouldn't be able to help her with a girl issue like _this_. She didn't want to tell them, because she thought that now that she had flowered, she'd be too much of a girl for them to be friends with.

"Just go away." Aray repeated over her should when they still didn't leave. "It's none of you business, I don't want you here!" She continued to tug at her sheets, feeling unwanted tears well in her eyes. She wasn't going to cry, she wasn't! She wasn't some little kid anymore; mother said that when a girl flowered, she became a woman. Arya straightened her shoulder and blinked back the tears, despite the fact that what she really wanted right now was a hug. Her two brothers always gave her the warmest.

"We're not leaving until you tell us what's going on." Robb insisted as they stepped up to the other side of her bloodied bed.

"It's none of your business!" She insisted, letting go of the sheet and grabbing her pillow, chucking it across the room, getting it out of the way, and also releasing some of her frustration both at the situation and her brothers.

"No." Jon said steely, crossing his arms over his chest.

Arya glared silently as she tugged at her sheet, trying to loose the far upper corner, but it stayed stubbornly tucked. She stomped around the bed, shoved her brothers aside and un-tucked the corner. She balled up the bloodied sheet and carried it to her bathroom, ignoring her brothers as they followed her stubbornly. She put it in the tub, filled halfway with water, with her soiled shorts and underwear to soak, praying that they wouldn't stain.

Jon narrowed his eyes at the other bloodied items in the tub, and Arya returned to her room. Slowly, too slowly for his liking, things were starting to come together in his mind.

"No!" Arya cried helplessly as she returned to her bed, and looked at her bare mattress. She'd left the sheet too long, and some of the blood had seeped through to the mattress. There was no way that she'd be able to soak _that_ in the tub! What was she to do now? 

She knew that the instant she had woken up and seen the blood, that she should have gone and woken her mother up. She would have taken her hand, reassuring her that everything was all right as she had done with Sansa, and helped clean up the blood, and the mattress would never have gotten stained. She tried to blame her brothers for it, if they hadn't come and barged in, interrupting her, she would have gotten to the sheet in time.

"Arya, let us help you!" Robb pleaded. "We want to help."

She clenched her teeth and glared at him. "Help me get the blood out." She allowed, it was _their_ fault, so they _should_ help.

"I’ll go and get bleach." Jon said. If he knew anything about cleaning, it was that bleach was suppose to be the got-to cleaner.

"Hurry up," Arya snapped. "And don't get caught." She added as he left her room, quick, but his steps like feathers.

"What do you want me to do?" Robb asked, ready for instructions. They were slowly breaking down her will, he knew. Talking to them (even if it was in growls) was a crack, letting them help (even if it was ordering them around) was another crack, and finally if they stuck around long enough, he knew that she would be at the end of her stubbornness and tell them the cause of all this blood.

"Fill the sink with hot water, and find a couple of cloths." Arya said after a moment of thought.

Robb nodded and went to her bathroom, while he ran the water, waiting for it to get hot, he searched the cupboard and drawers under the sink, looking to some cloths. He saw what he thought was a pack of bandages, but soon forgot about it as he spotted the cloths. He put the plug in the sink, and the cloths too as it filled with water. He glanced into the bedroom, and could just make out his sister where she leaned against the edge of her bed, her lips twisted in discomfort as she rubbed her abdomen—almost as if she had a tummy-ache. His blue eyes narrowed in thought as he turned off the tap; the sink finally full.

Robb leaned against the foot post next to her as they waited for Jon to return with the bleach, and he tentatively put an arm around her narrow shoulders. He waited for her to jump away and glare at him, but she did the opposite and leaned against his side. He couldn't stop the smile that touched his lips.

Jon finally came back, slightly breathless, with a jug of Bleach in his hand. "Got it."

Arya pulled away from her brother. "We need to clean it before it completely dries." She said.

Jon nodded and immediately went to the bathroom, and poured some of the bleach into the filled sink; while Robb tried not to feel sad at the loss of his sister against his side. Both boys took a cloth from the sink, and started to scrub at the blood smudges on the mattress. Arya watched them work, one arm crossed over her chest as she chewed on her nails nervously; she hoped that they weren't too late! 

The boys returned to the stink twice to rinse and rewet the clothes, before returning and scrubbing the mattress.

"It's not working!" Arya cried in dismay. It was just a wet circle with the brown smears of dried blood.

"I'm sorry, Arya." Jon whispered as he came to stand next to her. "The blood was probably already dry before we got to it." He touched her shoulder.

Her shoulders seemed to slump, almost as if his comforting hand weighed a ton. "I'm sorry," she blurted, "For causing so much trouble!"

Robb furrowed his brows. "What are you talking about, Arya?"

"I didn't want to tell you, because I was embarrassed and afraid that you would look at me differently—like you do Sansa." Arya said. "I flowered." She spat the word.

Robb and Jon didn't seem surprised though, or disgusted at the revelation. They shared a look over their sister's head.

"We know." Robb said.

"What?" She looked up at them in surprise.

"I figured it out when I saw your clothes in the bath." Jon told her.

"And I realized what it was when I... found _things_ in your cupboard when I was looking for the cloths." Robb nodded.

"Oh." Arya looked away in embarrassment.

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Jon asked in confusion.

Arya sighed, still not meeting their gazes. "You're _boys_ , you wouldn't understand. I didn't want you to look at me differently."

"Why would we do that?" Robb asked. And Arya looked up at him. "Everyone bleeds someway or another." He shrugged.

This time, Arya flushed with relief as she looked at her brothers; maybe they weren’t complete dunces. "I have to tell mother." She said finally.

"You can in the morning." Jon said

"You can't sleep here, not in the condition your mattress is in." Robb continued, glancing at it. "You can sleep in my room." He decided.

Arya nodded, and let her brothers lead her through the dark hall from her room, and to Robb's.

"You better not snore," she threatened Robb, but there was no force behind it.

"Blame father," Robb told her, when they stepped into the darkness of his bedroom. "But I'll make sure I'm on my stomach."

He let her climb in under the covers first, before laying down next to her, and to her surprise and also pleasure, Jon laid down on the other side. She was left sandwiched, but warm between the bodies and love of her brothers.

"Goodnight," She murmured. "I love you both."

"Love you too," they both whispered.

Arya smiled in the darkness, with her eyes closed. Sandwiched between them, she found that her cramps weren't as harsh as before, and found her breathing matching theirs as she drifted off to sleep. She may be a girl and they may be a pair of (sometimes dumb) boys, but that didn't staunch the love and care they felt for each other, nothing would—not even Robb's horrid snoring.

-fini-

**********Game/of/Thrones**********

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hoped you liked it. Please review. Don't worry, there's more to come in the N.W.H.S. Universe!


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